February 21^st, 2018

2 Corinthians 4:8

“we are afflicted in everyway, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;”

This past week I have felt afflicted. In a lot of ways, but probably not everyway. I have felt crushed, whether it was my heart, my strength or my spirit there have been endless times of feelings of pain and suffering. I keep feeling like I will be driven into despair, that there is no hope for the hopeless. I couldn’t and still can’t necessarily see the light at the end of this tunnel. Every corner I keep on turning ends up as a dead end. I keep praying God show me the way. You say that you will guide me and lead me to where you want me to be, but I have no direction and no clue on where to put my feet.

What do you do when you feel this way? When you feel pressed on all sides and suffocated like there are so many things piled on you. So many responsibilities, emotions, situations you must deal with. You call out “God I am just finding it hard to remember that you are good, or that you are with me.” So how are we supposed to cling to this promise that God will be with us through it all? How do we find the words to praise God when we don’t even want to speak with Him? How do we become “unstuck” from the current place we are in to be closer to God? How do we learn to just see Jesus?

There isn’t just some kind of formula, at least not one that I am aware of. But regardless of how pessimistic I feel right now I know that when the church in Corinth read this letter there were heads nodding along and people weeping because just moments before entering the church they had felt like finally giving up. They some how concluded though that the suffering was worth it. They counted the cost and everything else was all counted as lost.

 In verse 17 and 18 it says “for this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” This verse reminded me of what I thought maybe the Corinthians were encouraged by. They had reminded themselves of the things unseen and not by the things that were seen. They knew what was instore for them in heaven was worth so much more than the petty earthly issues that I’m drowning in. Even though there is no remedy of how to fix my inner despair, I have this encouragement, that God is near and He is placing me through trials to prepare me for my eternal glory.

February 16th, 2018

1 Corinthians 2: 2,4

“For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified... ⁴ And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.”

People often think that you need to have an insane amount of knowledge of the bible and be good at public speaking to share the gospel. But this obviously not true. It isn’t true for a couple reason, one being that the Holy spirit is living in those who believe that Jesus Christ died for them and rose again. They forget that the Holy Spirit fill us and gives us the right words to say. He shows us the way of God and the path that He wants us to take. Sharing the gospel isn’t about how it sounds when you share. It isn’t about using fancy words to draw people in or about saying the right things that will entice people as if they are getting a reward. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:17b that he would not use “clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.” He, a brilliant public speaker and that could persuade just about anyone that listened said that he ought to not use clever speech. He saw the importance of highlighting only Jesus. He did not want any of the credit and he knew that the crowds to be distracted by what he was saying and not on what God was trying to say to them. Paul knew that a lot of the preaching he could do on his own strength. He had, after all been doing just that for a large portion of his life. But when he got saved he always made it a point to humble himself. He did not want to be considered great. He so often called himself a slave of Christ Jesus. This would put him as lower than God and most of the society on earth. He never wanted people to be following him and not God.

This passage has reminded me to fully rely on God in all that I do. Even things that seem simpler like children’s ministry and with photography. Never loose sight of the fact that God is God and you are no more than a mere servant.

February 1^st, 2018

1 Corinthians 16: 14

“and do everything with love.”

Throughout Corinthians Paul always goes back to the concept that love is the most important thing. He says earlier in the book that “three things will last forever - faith, hope and love – and that the greatest of these is love.” Paul really does recognize that love is the most important aspect of life. It was after all the love of God that sent his son down to save us (Jesus). Love was the very reason why were created. God wanted us to love and worship Him in his glory and in return we would love Him. In the old testament the Lord made what looks to us like a lot of rules, but really, they were all put in place to keep the Jews safe.

              I recently read a book called A shepherd looks at Psalm 23. In it the author talks about all the rigorous routines that shepherds must go through to keep his flock in prime shape. Through out the book he continues to compare us, the children of God, to the sheep. How God really is our good shepherd and he is constantly taking care of us. He points us in the direction we should go, keeps us close to himself and protects us the way a shepherd would.

For a long time, I thought that love was the one thing that I was quite good at. I was almost prideful about it. I would think to myself sure they can do this and this, but I am better at loving those around me. The issue is when ever I got to this point I would always be smacked in the face with an evil thought about some one around me. Obviously, I wasn’t as amazing at loving everyone around me like I thought I was. This year has been a time where you are forced to be with people that you normally might not associate with. You can’t just run away and hide from your team or classmates. You are constantly surrounded by people, so you can’t just ignore them. There has been a lot of learning to love certain individuals that I have met, and I am still more often than not really bad at it. But I am really trying to keep this verse do everything with love in my heart so that I don’t get caught up in emotion or blindly agree with what other people are saying